Hello Owen,
My name is Tyler Nesbit. I am a friend and co-worker of Owen Ingley of Plenitud Initiativas Eco-Educativas. Would you please share this call for Earthbag Building Interns on your Natural Building Blog?
DIY
Shelters for All Update — One Year Later
It’s been about one year since the Shelters for All $300 House design competition. (Earthbag building was the most popular building method.) Let’s look at the progress made since then. Two videos below show their work in Haiti and India.
$100 Cabin made of Black Locust and an Old Billboard for the Roof
“See an example of a cabin made from black locust wood and an old billboard that is around 300 sq. ft. and costs right around $100 to make. This cabin will be a great three season home or can be insulated later with straw bales to make a comfortable place to live. All resources sourced locally for minimal gas use to get them. The main cost is in the Black Locust ‘slabwood’ from a local mill (waste, or offcuts of wood) at $75 in total for three $25 truck loads, and ~$25 in high quality #2 square driven PGP screws (2.5″ mainly, and some 1.25″ for roof battons and side wall batton fastening.)”
High Tunnel Greenhouse Construction
A polytunnel (hoop) greenhouse like this would be faster and easier to build than a dome. This particular polytunnel design is low cost, strong and easy to build. A greenhouse this size would provide more than enough fruit and vegetables for one family. Instead of bending galvanized pipe for the hoop sections, consider using gray plastic pipe or electrical conduit (polybutylene). I’m not sure how durable it is, but I have seen it used on hoop houses and it would be much easier to use.
A Do-It-Yourself GeoDome Greenhouse
“You don’t have to spit far these days to hit an urban garden. The trend, says the New York Times in an article about an Urban Farm in Milwaukee, has everything to do with the recession and the growing awareness of the impact that shipping food long-distance has on our climate and our pocketbooks. Of course, not all of us will be able to feed ourselves with what we grow in our back yards during the lean, mean growing season here in Southern Colorado. But there are ways around it, and John Sondericker has built an inexpensive Geo-Dome greenhouse in hopes of growing enough vegetables to supply his family of 5 for the better part of the year, if not year-round. We visited John and his dome for a brief tutorial on how he did it and how it’s going thus far.”
How to save $1000’s on your micro house project
I love videos like this with brilliant, thrifty ideas. Learn how to tap into treasure hiding in plain sight.
“Hi micro housers. Here is a tip on saving $thousand$ on your house. I will be using these in my build series so stay tuned to learn how to. When you’re done harvesting [gutting the RV for usable parts] you can use the shell for storage or as a guest house or sell it to recoup more of your money.”